This months Classic Mechanics is running an article on Darmahs and one paragraph has me a bit confused. It acknowledges the issues with Speedlines being very prone to cracking but says the Campagnolos are much less prone to cracking and as such safe to use. The bike tested has Campagnolos fitted. I thought if you valued your life both Speedlines and Campagnolos were best left as display wheels and if possible get a set of FPS wheels. My Darmah is fitted with Campagnolos and I'm actively looking for some 4 Bolt FPS, although last weekend I picked up some very nice wire wheels from a SS that I'm going to try and fit. I do have another set of Campagnolos that I've had crack tested and coated, ready to use, depending on reactions here. I know this will get a lot of differing reactions but what is the opinion of the great unwashed here on the form regarding using 45 year old Campagnolos on the road?
A couple of points from my experience for what its worth ? The Campag wheels are a much stronger design so not so prone to fail Campags i have seen fail have always been unnerving but never catastrophic. I have seen campags where a spoke has become detached from the rim ie: cracked round the join to the rim but never structurally collapsed Speedlines when they went tended to crack across the rim from the spokes so sections of the rim would drop off which of course was catastrophic . It also has to be said that a lot of Speedlines were replaced at the time but not all and most of those that survived are now nearly 50 years old and still going, much like the Campags. My view is at 50 its probably time to replace anyway but if in doubt send them of to http://www.tpcs-magnesium-refurbs.co.uk/ and get them checked as its corrosion thats the bigger problem now rather than structural design.
Also bear in mind if you have a tested set of Campags you are sitting on a lot of cash My SS had Campags from new and they are worth a lot of money now.
Paddy, thanks for your input. The spares set of Campagnolos I already had tested and coated by TPCS, they both had no cracks, the rear was all good but the front had signs of being previously repaired, so I'll only use it as a winter storage wheel or sell it to Henry Cole and he can turn it into a clock. Plan is to get either the tested Campagnolos or spoked wheels fitted and then get the Campagnolo wheels that came with the Darmah off to TPCS for testing and powder coating and hopefully I'll have one good set of Campagnolos.
